SAO:Draconis Eluvium
by Dark0592
Summary: The story of Asuna, Kirito and Yui is a nice and epic one, but what about some other players that weren't in the story? Follow Dark, Kira and Kuro as they survive and flourish in Aincrad. Basically an OC party that corresponds with cannon events and characters and forms friendships with them, yet doesn't effect the cannon storyline in any way. cover by Wesleychan on DA
1. Chapter 1

"What the hell?! Come on log out log out log out!" A man screamed as he tried everything to get out of the game.

"It's useless." His party member groaned.

"Just accept it and move on." A girl said. She was sixteen and was currently wearing a black cloak.

"Yeah... Who are you?" The man started. "I'm Richter." He continued.

"Dark." She replied.

"You wanna party up?" He asked.

"No, you'd probably get ridiculed and outcasted. I can't do that to a new player." Dark replied.

"Wait, you're a beta tester?" Richter asked. Dark nodded and walked away. "Hey wait a second!" He yelled before she turned the corner.

"I don't have any tips or tricks that aren't in the guidebook. I'd teach you what I know but you're level Five, I'm only level Three right now. So long, I'll be seeing you." Dark said, raising her hand in farewell as she left the square.

"Need a weapon?" The NPC vendor asked. Dark just opened her trade menu and looked through his wares. She still only had the starter gear and she never really liked shortswords. She looked through the special menu and found something that caught her eye.

"Are you sure you can handle that? It's two levels higher than you are." The vendor said.

"I'll take it." Dark said and accepted the purchase. It had taken her all day to grind lots of boar meat and hide to sell. Most people leveled their skills, but Dark had learned that better gear early is better than leveling.

"Transaction completed, enjoy your new weapon!" The vendor acknowledged the completed transaction. Just to make sure, Dark opened up her inventory menu and checked its specs.

"Whoa, that's the town of beginnings rare weapon. How in the world did you save up for it already?" Someone asked her, reading it's stats over her shoulder.

"Grinding misc items to sell." Dark replied without looking at him.

"'Dragon's Talon' is a rare weapon... I hear it's supposed to level with you or something." The man continued. She exited her menu and started walking.

"Hey, wanna party up?" The man asked.

"No." She replied and kept walking.

-Floor 2, Main village, two months later-

"Where are you going?" Someone asked Dark as she walked towards the Dungeon.

"I need to level." She replied.

"Wait, nobody's even mapped it out yet you can't go alone. Only idiots go solo." The man continued.

"I can handle it. I have a teleport crystal." Dark said and continued walking.  
-Floor 2, Dungeon-  
"Hey, there's already a player here?" A group of people said to themselves.

"Well yeah, you think our maps updated themselves? I'm surprised she's soloing though." The woman of the group said.

"H-holy shit." The leader said when she turned the corner. Dark was standing in the middle of ten insect-type enemies. They looked like ants. They all charged her at the same time, though they saw no HP bars drop when they all dogpiled her. In fact, they didn't even see her cursor.

In a flash, a shadow flew around the area and the creatures' HP bars all dropped to 0 one by one. Dark appeared back in her previous position, but this time holding a battle scythe.

"Whoa, what level are you?" The woman asked.

"Level seventeen." Dark replied.

"Whoa, we're only Ten. How long have you been here alone?" The woman continued.

"A few hours. I'm heading back into town, here." She said, opening her menu and sending a trade request to all of them. They all accepted and were surprised to see a few uncommon weapon and armor drops appear.

"Wait, you're just giving these to us?" A man asked when she accepted it without asking for something in return.

"Yes. I farmed most of the easier monsters and grinded a lot of the higher Cil drops. I'm a Beater, but I can't let everyone get screwed over because of me. I'm giving most of the stuff I got away to make up for it." Dark said.

"Whoa, these are some really uncommon drops." Someone said.

"I don't need most of them and sell values aren't too high on them. I'm going to keep going for a bit. I won't join your party, but if you want to tag along I won't stop you." Dark said as she locked her trade menu.

"Thank you so much. I'll tag along I guess." The woman said, immediately equipping the weapon and pauldrons she was given.

"I'd love to, but if all of the easy stuff is dead the rest of us will just stay back and catch the respawns. We won't get nearly as much XP or Cil like that, and there won't be rare drops, but we're not strong enough to handle anything above it." The Leader of the party said.

"See you later then, Tiro." The woman said as she quickly caught up to Dark, who had already started walking. She was wearing black samurai armor, though a much weaker version of it's normal counterpart, and the black spiked pauldrons Dark had given her. She had previously been using a longsword, but she had the Katana that Dark had given her equipped now.

"So, what is your name?" Dark asked.

"Kira." The woman replied.

"Dark. Do you know how to use a Katana or would you prefer another weapon?" Dark asked.

"I'm fine, your generosity is already more than anyone could expect in a place like this. If I might ask, why do you refuse to party with anyone?" Kira replied.

"I am a Beater, as I said before, so I don't want to ruin possible reputations. I also don't want to be held responsible for anything that goes wrong, my conscience wouldn't be able to handle it easily. Perhaps if you show enough skill I'd consider partying up with you, but as of now I know nothing." Dark answered. "And now my turn, why were you out here so early? We had only just beaten the boss last night." She asked.

"I'd like to ask you the same thing, but that can wait. We were mainly taking out the helpers so we didn't get much out of it, nor were we too exhausted, so we thought we could get some early leveling. We're a bit too underleveled to do anything more than farm respawns. Anyways, why are you here?" Kira answered.

"I'm a solo player, I don't have a party or a guild to worry about. I helped take out the boss, but I wasn't exhausted either. And besides, if some of the more selfish players got here first then the players that take longer to move out would suffer for it." Dark replied.

"I see." Kira said. After a few minutes they were caught by five lizardmen, creatures that could be anywhere and matched the levels of the floor they're on.

"Uh, are we ok? I heard Lizardmen are pretty tough, even if you outlevel them." Kira asked, drawing her Katana slowly.

"They could three shot you, five shot me, but their attacks are slow. Don't block, instead, dodge and counter because their blades have high durability and will most likely break your weapon if you block too much." Dark advised as she drew her scythe.

Kira nodded and the Lizardmen charged them, as if on cue. Kira jumped to the side and lashed out with her new weapon and was surprised when nearly half the creature's HP bar dropped. With her old weapon, it would have taken three times that. She caught a glimpse of Dark behind her two opponents, she had yet to strike.

Dark was waiting until her opponents got into the right position, jumping around them and trying to instigate a simultaneous charge. It didn't take long, the three Lizardmen soon lined up and began gathering power for a strong lunge. Dark stopped and held her Scythe out in a strange stance. It seemed as if she was just standing, but with the scythe in her slightly outstretched right arm. She held it just above the bottom of the handle, with the blade facing to her right as it resting on the ground five feet in front of her.

The Lizardmen lunged, and she sidestepped while simultaneously spinning. The result was nearly a complete spin and the enemies' momentum being used against them as their upper halves were cleaved from their lower halves. It was just a single sweep, yet it dispatched the three enemies. The scythe left behind a dark blue trail, signifying that it was a skill.

"Pay attention to your own battle." Dark suddenly said. With a yelp, Kira barely managed to dodge the lunges aimed at her. She rebounded off of the ground and leapt into the air, doing a spin and slammed into the ground, aiming straight for the injured enemy. She cleaved it in half and, as the Katana gained a golden glow, did an impossible spin to take the legs off of the last Lizardman. The sweep was followed up with a vertical slash, taking its head off and finishing the battle.

"Good job." Dark praised the girl.

"Not as good a job as you did." Kira shrugged.

"I've got seven- six, levels on you now. For your level that was well above average." Dark said, noticing that Kira's level up screen was telling her she was now level 11.

"I guess... Did you get anything neat?" Kira asked.

"Only one thing of real interest. A new cloak." Dark answered. She opened up her inventory and removed her current one and looked for the new one. While this happened, Kira got a good look at her.

Dark, contrary to what her username suggested, had pure white hair. It was in a thin tail and was nearly down to her tailbone. She had piercing blue eyes and wore light plate armor, obviously rare drops. As Dark gained a thoughtful expression for a second, a set of pauldrons appeared on her shoulders. They looked exactly like the ones she gave to Kira. After a few moments a new cloak appeared around her.

It wasn't a full body cloak like the other one, it clasped at the neck and chest. Kira guessed she had put her pauldrons on now that they would be able to be seen. The cloak itself fell around her and looked slightly worn and ragged. When she stepped towards Kira, the cloak easily flowed around her.

Kira herself had a lighter shade of blue eyes and sportedblack hair in a short tail.

"The 'Reaper's Cloak'. It's an uncommon drop from Lizardmen. They don't use the item themselves, and they're not rare, but I had one in the beta and it sort of grew on me. Here." Dark explained and tossed her old cloak to Kira.

"If you already have something better than keep it, but all cloaks add at least +5% to your stealth parameter. That one adds 8% and reduces debuff durations slightly." She explained.

"Uh, thanks. You seem like you're very well equipped, you have rare armor and I've never even seen a battle scythe. Are you a GM?" Kira asked.

"No. I told you i've been here a while, this set can't be found. You need the carapace of those bugs you found me killing and metal harvested from the scythes of mantis monsters. The weapon is a rare weapon that was in the beta. In the town of beginnings, if you gathered enough Cil then it would appear in the weapon merchant's wares. I was going to take it and destroy it, it was so overpowered it made everything too easy for the tester who got it, but it was balanced to level with the player wielding it this time so I kept it.

There are more battle scythes in the game, it's just that it has it's own weapon skill tree that will only become available if you own one, so most people don't even know about them. I've been spreading the word, though." Dark answered.

"So they're a unique weapon type? Are there any other types that are hidden?" Kira asked, intrigued.

"A few. There are thrown weapons, war picks and many others. Those were the only two I discovered." Dark replied.

"Don't put your hood up, please. You're really pretty." Kira suddenly said. Dark stopped halfway from pulling said hood up, shocked by the sudden compliment.

"Um... Alright. How old are you?" Dark asked, slowly letting the hood drop back down.

"Sixteen, you?" Kira replied.

"Same. Let's go back to the village, My main goal for this morning has been accomplished and I can't be late for the player meeting on the first floor." Dark said.

"Fine by me." Kira replied.

-First floor, Town of beginnings.-  
"Alright, we have a big issue. Yesterday, floor 2 was unlocked. Almost everyone came back here to rest and recuperate, but some kept going until the town. This is fine, we need a clear path to the safe zone, but some people went into the dungeon." A man who had assumed leadership of the meeting announced as the sun just began to rise.

"Hey, a lot of hard working players barely got anything out of that boss fight. Some of us needed a little boost." Someone from Kira's party protested.

"I know, most of us know that. But instead of staying back and grinding off of the lower leveled respawns, someone went and cleared an eighth of the dungeon and looted almost all of the rare and unique item drops. A single person." The man continued.

"It's that damn Beater, Kirito, isn't it?!" someone yelled.

"No, he's still at the inn. He nearly died during the fight so he's recovering." The man replied. He was about to continue, but Dark stood up and walked down to him.

"If that's all you want to discuss I might as well come out with it. I was the one who did it. Line up and I'll share anything I don't need." Dark said.

"Wait, you're the one who did it? If you did then why just give away stuff for free?" The leader asked. Nobody got up.

"I went so far because I knew of a Lizardmen encounter, the first one in the game. I wanted this cloak, and that was the only selfish reason. I had other reasons, though. As you know, there are lots of greedy players who will simply take everything for themselves. I took everything that I could so I could help out the less fortunate players." Dark explained.

"Hey! She's a beater! She did all that for herself!" Someone yelled. His partner smacked him on the head though.

"Idiot! She just explained why she did it!" The other man hissed.

"Come on then, line up." Dark repeated. Cautiously, everyone lined up in front of her. One by one, she initiated trade requests with all of them and gave them items based on how they were doing.

"What?! Just a shitty jewel?! You gave that last guy armor and a weapon!" One of the more greedy players yelled in her face.

"You are level 15, you have well enough armor and weapons to survive in the second floor. You're low on Cil, though, and that gem sells for a good amount. Next." Dark said.

"Fine then! I'll fight you for your best weapon!" He yelled, sending a duel request.

"You do realize that I've got two levels on you, right?" Dark warned.

"If you can't even think to spare a single weapon then I think all of your good gear was destroyed while you were grinding." The man said with a grin.

"Whatever." Dark said, accepting the request and waiting for the 60 second waiting period ticked down.

"So, what is your best weapon?" The man asked as he drew a claymore. Dark answered by pulling her hood up and deactivating a stealth skill, hide weapon. It was prohibited outside of safe zones, but inside it was perfect to avoid duels for gear. She pulled the scythe out of it's holder and entered a stance identical to the previous one, but the blade pointed upward instead of sideways.

With 20 seconds remaining until the duel started, the man didn't look so confident.

"What the hell is that?" He asked.

"Wait, I was in the beta test and that thing was the most overpowered piece of shit there was." The leader commented.

"I rushed to get this weapon so I could destroy it, but when I looked at it's parameters I found that it was balanced. It's starting parameters are that of an uncommon floor 1 monster drop, but it scales with you. Do you want to just surrender?" Dark explained, finishing as the counter hit 5 seconds.

"Heh, hell no. If I can get my hands on that thing I'll be like a god!" He exclaimed. Dark would have facepalmed if the duel didn't start. This guy was trying to make himself seem like a bad guy, it seemed. Kira had seen the Lizardmen do the same thing, but her counter to the charge was different.

Instead of doing the spinning sweep, she swung the Scythe in an arcing cleave. If the village wasn't a safe zone, the man would have been split in two. Since it was, though, he merely received a large gash on his back that dropped his HP to red; ending the duel.

"Next." She said, sheathing the weapon and opening up her trade menu as if the duel had never happened.

"Whoa." Everyone said in near unison.

-Floor 2, boss room, two weeks later-  
"Alright Kirito! Finish it!" A player named Egil yelled.

"Already on it!" The boy known as Kirito yelled back as he was already charging his attack on the massive goblin that was the 2nd floor boss.

'Congratulations!' appeared as the boy struck the finishing blow. This group wasn't nearly as big as the one that fought the first boss, more players were high powered so it was possible.

"Hey, Dark. Catch." Kirito said, tossing three helmets at her. She caught them and examined them. She found one was pretty much just for selling, but the other two were rare items.

"Why?" She asked.

"You deserve them. I made the killing strike on this boss, too. That means I got all of the XP and most of the Cil. You took out one of its three life bars on your own, so you get a cut of the loot." Kirito explained.

"I guess that's fair." The other seven party members agreed. Dark nodded in thanks and left the party. She then followed the boy where he opened the next floor, as did the rest of the party.

"Hey there, Dark. Long time no see." Kira said, catching up with the girl.

"Hello, Kira. You've been getting very powerful." Dark commented.

"I followed a lot of the advice you gave me and I started doing what you did, give out items to players who need them." Kira said with a smile.

"I hope it hasn't inconvenienced you too much, you don't have a borderline-overpowered weapon to help you." Dark said.

"I've gotten my skills up enough so that I can handle myself, don't worry. Say, I could use a friend on this floor and I just got new armor for that fight so I'm low on Cil. Mind sharing a room at the inn and partying up for a bit at the next village?" Kira offered.

"Hm... I'll share the room, but I want to see how you handle the third floor a bit before partying up with you. Deal?" Dark responded.

"Sure thing." Kira agreed.


	2. Chapter 2

_  
Chapter 2/ 2.5 months in

-Floor 3, Dungeon, one day later-  
"Hey, you're in a guild?" Kira asked, surprised, when Dark accepted the party invite and she saw the guild symbol. It's emblem was a black dragon wrapped around a skull.

"Draconis Eluvium. Don't ask about the name, it was a random thought. I created it so people would stop begging me to join theirs." Dark replied.

"Oh, that's pretty smart. Apparently I've got a reputation as a solo player. You and that Kirito guy have one too. You two are kind of hated, though, for being Beaters." Kira said.

"I've heard a few rumors about myself, it makes me laugh sometimes. Apparently, I'm the only player so far to find a battle scythe. People have started calling me 'Reaper' or 'Angel of Death'. I think it's stupid. My name is Dark, I don't need a title." Dark said.

"I feel you. I've got people begging me to join parties and guilds." Kira sighed.

"You want to join mine then? You're the only player I'm really fond of here, I'd be fine with being a Duo player." Dark offered.

"Sure, we're already partied together." Kira agreed. Dark sent the invite and Kira accepted. The back of her cloak and the previously blank emblem on her chest plate and pauldrons changed to the emblem of Draconis Eluvium.

"I like it. Did you make it?" Kira asked, meaning the emblem.

"I did. Here." Dark said, opening up a trade request instead of closing her menu after the invite. Curious, Kira accepted and found a strange item being traded.

"What's that?" She asked.

"It's technically a helmet item, but it isn't a real helmet." Dark replied. Kira accepted the item and equipped it, Dark did the same with one of her own. It was more of a mask than a helmet. If Kira were to compare it to anything else, it would be to the skull of a dragon made of metal. Most helmets that had great aesthetic purposes weren't very practical, but these ones had great stats.

"How did you get these?" Kira asked, pulling hers off and examining it. There were four horns that curved backwards, two of them smaller than the others, and the jaws were open slightly. The snout was very short and rounded off, showing that the drakelings it was modeled after were very young. The eyes were open so they could see, though from outside it looked like there was nothing behind it

"I reforged them from those two rare helmets Kirito gave me. If your armorsmithing is high enough, and the item's power around yours, then you can reforge any armor in the shape of any other armor. Those drakes at the end of floor 2 dropped their skulls, which could be worn as crappy helmets, that are really only used for selling. I thought they looked cool so I reforged the helmets into them." Dark explained.

"Wait, I saw that in the guidebook. It averages the combined stats and caries over the strongest unique effects, depending on your smithing level. How did you get it so high already?" Kira asked.

"Look at our level differences." Dark said. Kira looked and saw their levels. They were both level 20.

"Wait, you had like 6 levels on me before. You've only leveled up three times?" Kira asked.

"I spent most of my time improving my smithing and tailoring skills. I've got good weaponsmithing, but it's nowhere near tailoring and armorsmithing. I've dabbled a bit with cooking, too." Dark said.

"How do you have such high skills? You must have only slept like once every other day." Kira said.

"Close, an hour a day and I'm fine. I've got a nice case of insomnia going for me, this game is reducing it so that I sleep that full hour somehow, but normally I'd only sleep a few hours every few days." Dark explained.

"I didn't even know it was possible to have so many skills... most people only have one prominent skill..." Kira said.

"That's because it takes a lot of time and effort to get your skills into the higher milestones needed for the advanced stuff. Me having 23 hours a day, give or take, to do whatever I want; I naturally have more time to kill. I am a Beater, so I know what's useful later and what's only good early. Being able to craft, reforge and maintain your own gear is very important. Being able to sell your services just as important." Dark explained as Kira replaced the helmet.

"I heard rumor that there's an energy potion you can make by grinding the leaves of an herb you can find in the forests throughout floors 2 and up. I've got a high gathering skill and My highest skill, at least not combat related, is Alchemy. I can experiment with it and see if I can create energy boosts so I can do that then." Kira said with a thoughtful expression.

"That's interesting. I was going to invest in Alchemy, in later floors potions are high value items to have, but I decided cooking to be more my forte." Dark said, equally interested.

"If we stick together for the rest of the game, or at least for a long time, we could tailor our skills to balance out and match each other." Kira suggested.

"That is a good idea. Let's search for these herbs and anything else of use. The front line isn't too far in so the dungeon should still be relatively full." Dark agreed.

-Floor 3, Main village-  
"You're seriously wearing those Drakeling Skulls?" One of the player item vendors asked as Dark and Kira passed his stand.

"They're just reforged to look like them. How much Cil would you be willing to drop if I sold you misc materials and common drops?" Dark answered.

"Eh, more than most NPC shops. Let's see what you got." The vendor started, opening up his shop menu as Dark did the same. "But I warn ya, I buy cheap and sell cheap." He continued.

"I'm not too interested in high income at the moment, just clearing up my inventory." Dark said, dragging a large group of items from her inventory into his sell menu. "How much can that get me?" She continued.

"Hey you've got some really uncommon stuff in here, and some of these items don't even drop on respawns... you sure you want to sell some of it?" The man asked.

"Anything I don't want to keep that's worth selling is there." Dark assured him.

"Alright. If we looked at the system sell prices, you'd be getting around 10k, but I'd give you as much as 20k if you really wanted." The vendor said after a moment of calculating.

"I'll take 12k, then." Dark said.

"Done." The man replied. "I'm Egil by the way, and with some of the stuff you just sold me I'll be able to open a real shop... Come by when it's finished, it'll be in higher floors." He continued.

"Dark, I will." Dark replied. They nodded to each other in a sort of bow and kept walking.

"If he would have given you 20k why not accept it?" Kira asked, falling back into pace with Dark.

"This is still really early. The only reason he had so much is because he obviously gets a lot of business with his 'buy cheap sell cheap' attitude. Besides, I'd rather help a player out by giving them a good deal than clean him out. Favors and friendships are some of the most important things to gather in a place like this." Dark answered.

"Makes sense. Where are we going now?" Kira asked.

"You don't have to follow me, you can find out where I am by looking at your map since we're in the same party and guild. I'm heading over to the best forge I can find, the rest of my armor needs a tuneup. I don't have a mobile forge on me." Dark replied.

"I like spending time with you, I learn so much and I enjoy your company." Kira admitted.

"I've started to enjoy yours as well, and I'm happy to help." Dark said in reply.

"Hey, you're a Beater aren't you?" Someone said before either of them could speak again.

"Does it matter?" Dark replied.

"Of course it does. You beaters are good for nothing bastards that take everything for themselves." The boy continued as Dark turned around.

"What did I do to you?" Dark asked.

"You're a Beater, you're all the same." The boy growled.

"And you didn't answer my question." Dark retorted.

"I don't have to!" The boy yelled, sending a duel request. Dark declined it and kept walking.

"Hey! Fight me!" The boy exclaimed, sending it again. She declined it without stopping. "Why won't you fight me?!" He yelled.

"Because I didn't do anything to you, nor did you do anything to me. We have no quarrel and I'd rather not have you wasting an HP potion." Dark answered, stopping and looking at the enraged boy.

"What happened to you? Nobody harbors that much hate for no reason." Kira asked.

"Some Beater... He told us about this ultra rare item drop, that the monsters were really hard. He said whoever gets the drop walks out of it with it, but since we were in a party the massive XP and Cil would be given to everyone..." The boy started.

"Well that sounds really nice, didn't you do that once, Dark?" Kira asked. The boy's glare intensified then.

"Yes, I've done it many times. I usually give the item to the one who needs it most if I get it, though. I'm guessing your story doesn't end as well?" Dark replied.

"Not even close... He hung back and let us kill most of the monsters... We were five strong, but one of us died in the battle. My friend got the item, and that damn Beater stabbed him in the back! He slaughtered them and almost got me! The only reason I survived was because of a quick monster respawn distracting him!" The boy explained angrily.

"Are you serious, kid? Beaters aren't the only ones that do that. There are already red and orange players out there that do that." Egil said, apparently having followed the yelling.

"Well a beater did it to me!" The boy yelled and charged at Dark. She simply struck him with a high kick, knocking him off his feet.

"No two people are the same, not even in this place. Prejudice or anything of the likes have no practicality here. Leave someone's faults with them and don't force them upon another. Especially for something as simple as revenge." Dark said lowly to him. She opened her inventory then, took out an uncommon longsword and tossed it to the downed boy. He caught it before it hit the ground, which would delete it, and gave her a confused glance.

"You're angry, confused and not very intelligent. I won't hold it against you, and if you went through all of that then you need a little help." Dark said, turned and resumed her walk.

-Floor 3, Boss room, 3 days later-  
"'Mantis King'... Cut off his scythes before killing him, they guarantee rare battle scythe drops." Dark said to their small group. Including them, there were ten of them for this boss. Dark and Kira were going to duo this boss, it was renowned in the beta information for being notoriously easy, and had found something strange. They had followers.

Apparently, a group of people knew of them and wanted nothing more than to serve them. They created a guild under the name 'Deathscythes' and they all used battle scythes. They all wore cloaks similar to hers as well.

"Of course, Mistress." The others said. She rolled her eyes and turned back towards the boss. He was charging at her. In barely even a blur of movement, she disappeared and reappeared above him. She slashed down's it's back, slicing open the carapace like butter. Kira proceeded to distract it from the front, slicing at it's exposed body and legs with her Katana. The Deathscythes hacked and slashed at the thing, its HP bar dropping steadily.

It lashed out and would have decapitated three of the Deathscythes, but Kira reacted quickly and sliced the giant blade off using a cutting skill. Dark quickly dispatched of it's other blade and, with it defenseless, finished the boss off with the help of her companions. Dark had let a Deathscythe get the final blow, so the XP and Cil was shared mostly with them instead of herself and Kira, as they didn't need it as much as the others did.

"Thanks for your help, that would have taken a long time without you." Dark thanked the people.

"Of course Mistress! The Deathscythes live to serve the mighty Dragon-Reaper, the Matriarch of Draconis Eluvium!" The group chanted out.

"Please, stop right there. I'm glad that you want to help me, but that's all. I don't want you to worship me, I'm just a Duo player who had a good start." Dark said.

"Why would we not worship you? There are only a dozen or so really powerful players, and two of them are working together and right in front of us. With you doing so well, with us helping you whenever and however we can, we have the best chance of beating this! And besides, we think you two are a lot cooler than the others!" The woman who was the leader or the Deathscythes said.

"Just don't go too far with it... How did you all get such similar gear? Not even I have the smithing skill to replicate anything but the most basic items. And simply forging battle scythes require a metal that can't be found until floor 5." Dark asked.

"Once the 'Dragon's Talon' is purchased, a basic battle scythe appears in the very same shop. We hired a player Weaponsmith to reforge our weapons into the scythes." The leader responded.

"Well here, take one of the two rare scythes we got from the break-off drops. I'll give you some Cil, too. That should be enough to have an NPC replicate the item if you reforge it into something a little less valuable." Dark said, opening a trade menu with the leader.

"Thank you, Mistress. We will not waste your gift." She replied, starry eyed. These people were starting to creep Dark and Kira out.

"Up to clearing a path to the next village?" Dark asked Kira.

"We should wait. There's a meeting about this boss coming up. We'll distribute some Cil and XP consumables we saved up there and clear the path as a group." Kira suggested.

"Alright, that makes it easier on our general reputation anyways. What will you guys do?" Dark asked the Deathscythes.

"Whatever you ask." The leader said. The look she gave Dark gave her the sudden feeling she never wanted to be alone in a room with the girl. Kira would have laughed, but for some reason she didn't take to kindly to the implications of that reply.

"What I want is for you to stop fawning over us and play independently." Dark said with a groan.

"If we did that, then we wouldn't be there if you need us." The leader protested.

"Trust me, if we needed you then we'd ask. Please, go your own way." Dark retorted.

"At least add us to your friends list so you can message us." The leader said.

"No. But I will ally our guilds, that will give us the ability to message each other as guild founders." Dark replied, opening up her guild menu.

"Why not just add us as friends?" One of them asked.

"I don't party with people or add them unless I can trust them with my life. On top of that, I refuse to party with lower level players unless I have to for their own safety. We both have at least three levels on all of you." Dark answered as the alliance request was accepted.

"I guess that makes sense then...We'll accompany you to the meeting, then we will do as you ask and go our own way for now." The leader said in defeat.

"Thank you. What's your name, anyways?" Dark asked.

"Koibito." The woman replied. Dark nodded and started walking, Kira matching her pace and the Deathscythes a few paces behind them.

-Floor 3, Village.-  
Dark and Kira were at the Inn when there was a knock on their door. They had spent most of the night helping out the people who missed out on the boss fight, so they were exhausted. Kira opened the door as Dark started cooking a meal.

"Yes?" Kira asked, finding a young girl with pink hair standing there.

"Hello. Kira, right? Is Dark here?" The girl asked.

"What do you need?" Dark called.

"Come in." Kira said, letting the girl in.

"I hear you're a very proficient smith." The girl said to Dark.

"I'm not the best at forging, but combining and reforging are my highest skills at the moment." Dark said.

"I didn't know there were sub-branches... I'm Lisbeth by the way. I was hoping you could possibly teach me what you could. An apprentice can learn up to 60% of the master's skill level." The girl said.

"Hm... What would you offer in return?" Dark asked. Normally, she would have offered her services for free. But apprenticeship was a large investment in time and would mean the girl would have to stick with them for a while.

"Well, I plan to become the #1 weaponsmith in Aincrad. Once I get my start, you'll get most services free from me. I also have a rare weapon I forged. I can't use it, and it needs to be inspected by someone who has high item detection to see it's stats, but I got it from a lucky 1:10000 success rate forge. It's what made me want to become a weaponsmith in the first place, actually." Lisbeth answered.

"I've got high Item detection." Kira said. Dark nodded to her and they initiated a trade. Kira examined it, the thing coming up as a long, static filled blur. "It's a battle scythe, and it's very powerful. Damn, this is the kind of weapon you would find on a rare event boss. What did you do to forge this?" She asked as it slowly faded into a slightly blurred, scythe-shaped weapon.

"Well, I had bought some low leveled rare weapons of every known type and broke them down. When you break down a weapon, you get weapon parts and ingots. I got rare crystalline ingots from a few of them, which you're not supposed to be able to get for a while. I forged three swords and a war pick from them and decided to combine them all into a single weapon. I was feeling lucky so I took the 1:10000 chance and it worked." Lisbeth explained.

"I can't get everything from it, I only have it's class and estimated power level. Dark, isn't your item discovery higher than mine?" Kira asked, offering the blurred weapon to Dark. She nodded and took it and it slowly came completely into focus. The handle was a dark purple crystal, possibly obsidian, and was extremely smooth. It came to a spike-esq point at the bottom. The actual blade was impressive. It was colored in a crystalline green and looked as if someone had taken a crystal skull and stretched it to form a scythe blade.

"It's called 'Crystal Reaper' and is supposed to be dropped by an event boss on floor 25 or when a crystal hidden weapon is reforged with a unique weapon. I guess that counts as materials obtained from them as well. The only thing that I've seen that's more powerful than this is the sword that Kirito uses... Are you sure you don't need it?" Dark said.

"I can't use it and I'll never get it's worth in Cil. Might as well get it's worth in training." Lisbeth shrugged.

"Very well. I will not stop any of my normal activities for you, though. Kira and I are Duo players that tend to push past the front lines. I'll teach you how to fight better as well if you need it." Dark warned.

"I can handle myself, anything to reach my goal." Lisbeth said, determination in her voice.

"Very well then. This is only until your apprenticeship is over, unless you decide to stick with us, but you have to be recognized as my apprentice." Dark said, sending a party and guild invite to the girl.

"You won't regret it!" Lisbeth exclaimed happily.

"I don't make decisions I regret. This is your choice, if you die because you can't keep up that is your own fault. I'll do my best to keep you alive, though, so hopefully that particular scenario is only an example." Dark retorted.

"Thank you so much. When can we start?" Lisbeth asked.

"Stay for dinner, we'll start tonight at Midnight. Once you eat you should sleep, you won't get the chance to do so again until tomorrow night." Dark answered as she resumed her previous task of cooking.

"Wow you really are a Jack... er, Jill, of all trades. You can smith, you can fight, you can cook. I'm starting to think you're a GM or something." Lisbeth said.

"Insomniac, She works more than three or four players combined when it comes to leveling and getting her skills up." Kira said.

"Hard work combined with too much time on your hands normally means you tend to be high powered." Dark said with a smile.

-Floor 3, Smithing shop.-  
"You guys are here awfully late..." The NPC running the store said. Dark didn't respond, instead she took out a 22 hour rent on the shop.

"22 hours?" Lisbeth asked.

"That means two hours of break time to eat and rest." Dark replied.

"Hey, I'm gonna go grind some materials for you guys. Be back in two hours or so." Kira said.

"Good luck." Dark said with a smile.

"So, what are we going to do?" Lisbeth asked.

"I only know so much about weaponsmithing in terms of actually forging the weapons, my skills are mostly centered on the modification sub-branch. Things like replicate, reforge, combine and the likes. I'll teach you what I know every third day, but your goal will have to be achieved on your own. For now, I'll show you what a High level reforge looks like." Dark explained. She walked up to the giant smelter and opened the menu for it.

She placed in the Crystal Reaper and her Dragon's Talon. A message came up confirming that her skill was high enough for it not to fail and a new menu came up.

"When reforging, it combines the stats and averages it based on your skill level. Since my reforge level is so high, I only average it at about 1.3 instead of the normal 2 or more, depending on how many items you're reforging. Based on your level as well, you can carry over unique modifiers or combine them to create new ones." Dark explained when the menu showed the stats of both of them combine and then drop a good amount. It was more than the Dragon's Talon, but less than about half of the Crystal Reaper's parameters.

Stats in purple were unique modifiers. Dragon's Talon had it's scaling unique ability and a reforged regeneration bonus. The Crystal Reaper had a slight lifesteal effect, stealing 5% of damage dealt and giving it to the wielder's bar. She could have just carried them all over, but she decided to combine the three abilities into one.

"And now we get to see what comes out. Sometimes the item becomes something totally different if it's two rare and powerful weapons, almost like combining them, or if it's something like a rare with a common drop it'll just give the better one a boost." Dark continued, accepting the reforge.

Lisbeth watched in awe as the two items turned into molten liquid and flowed through a groove into the chamber. After a few moments, Dark tipped a part of the chamber onto a slab of stone in front of it. Almost as if it was alive, it moved into place without a mold, and formed something that was neither of the two components.

"Oh good, it did change. I was growing bored with how it looked before. Let's check it's parameters." Dark said with a smile as she picked the weapon up. It looked like the Crystal Reaper, except the skull that was stretched to form the blade was a dragon skull instead and the blade took on more of an obsidian look than the teal crystal the previous blade had.

"What did the unique abilities combine into?" Lisbeth asked after a moment.

"It's called 'Soul Stealer'... Apparently whenever I kill a monster it gets a little stronger. Boss monsters cause it to evolve while players' parameters are leached slightly. It also has a 10% lifesteal bonus." Dark answered.

"That... That's really cool. It said if you kill a player it leaches some of their parameters? You're not a PKer are you?" Lisbeth said.

"Not really, I'll kill a player if they deserve it, but I will kill them if I have to. Alright now, your turn. Show be the best reforge you can do." Dark answered, stepping aside to allow the girl access to the smelter.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3/ 4.5 months in

-Floor 10, Main Village,a month and a half later-  
"Yes?" Dark asked, answering the door of their Inn room when someone knocked on it. She caught a punch that was launched at her and threw the man into the second, who was moving to kick at her.

"And what have I done to you?" She asked as they picked themselves up.

"Your lackeys are fucking everything up!" The man who tried to punch her yelled.

"My... what? My only party member is Kira." Dark said.

"That damn guild you control! They're bullying everyone and trying to steal all the best hunting spots and quests! They keep saying they're doing it for you." The second man explained. Dark facepalmed.

"Have they done anything overly stupid?" She asked.

"They allied with Laughing Coffin and are taking on orange players..." The first man said. Dark was instantly serious.

"Where are they?" She asked.

"Just outside of the safe zone..." He answered.

"Koibito, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Dark asked when she found the woman amidst a group of twenty deathscythes. They were all orange and half of them were even red.

"Look everyone, our mistress is here. Let's show her our toys." Koibito giggled. They parted and in the middle of them were four children who were in the red.

"You attacked children?! You allied with a PK guild, and now you're becoming one... I thought I could stop you peacefully... but Children? What would possibly possess you to attack them?!" Dark growled.

"They thought they could take the easy quests from us and refused to pay to enter the village." Koibito said. In the blink of an eye, Dark's fist had smashed into her face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! We may be in a game right now but you can't treat it like that! Those are real lives you're playing with and ending!... Do you want to know what it's like to be played with and be taken within an inch of your life?" Dark yelled.

"Because I can show you... Monsters like you deserve worse." She continued slowly, it even caused Kira to shiver. The second the Deathscythes backed away from the girl, Kira lunged forward and got the children to safety.

"21 on 1? Not even you're that powerful, mistress." koibito chuckled as she got to her feet.

"Then how come your HP bar is red now?" Dark asked with a disconcerting grin. Everyone saw in awe, or horror, that the single punch had brought the level 45 into reds.

"You may imitate me, but you can never match me. Not even with your entire guild. Everyone here will submit to jailing, or so help me god I will kill all of you." Dark seethed, her previous sadistic nature gone and replaced with fury.

"But then you'd turn red yourself, and have 21 real deaths on your hands." Koibito laughed, drawing her scythe. It was just a standard scythe, but with 21 of them they would be a threat to any normal player.

"I'm a Duo player, and there are people from all of the major guilds here. I'm fine with being red for the rest of the game if it means you're not out here doing this anymore." Dark said, drawing her own Scythe. If any of the deathscythes were confident before, one look at the scythe and they weren't so cocky anymore.

"Like I said, even you're not tha-" Koibito started, but was cut off as Dark dashed forward again. Instead of ending it quickly, Dark chose to indulge a new feral instinct she'd been developing since the Vampirism.

She shoved the spiked handle through Koibito's bottom jaw and lifted her into the air. The Nerve Gear intercepted brainwaves, even pain, but for something like this she would definitely have felt at least part of it.

"How many people has she killed?" Dark asked darkly. She turned her head towards the deathscythes as Koibito struggled to keep the spiked pole from going further into her head.

"U-um... Five, two c-children." One of the orange deathscythes answered. Koibito gurgled something that sounded like 'Traitor' before she found herself in the air without a bottom jaw. Dark had flung her into the air and simultaneously ripped her jaw out. Instead of letting the woman land, Dark decided to meet her halfway with her scythe blade and cleaved her in half.

As Koibito burst into data fragments, she turned towards the Deathscythes. As one, all fourteen of the red players charged at her. She stood there and let them all sink their scythe blades into her body. Her health bar didn't even hit yellow. She grabbed one of their heads in her clawed hand and crushed it, dropping his HP to zero. Most of her health returned then, and the rest quickly regenerated.

"Last chance." Dark growled, baring her fangs. With looks of pure terror, the deathscythes pulled their weapons out of her and threw them down to the ground in surrender. Kira, who had already prepared a jailing crystal, came forward and teleported them all to the village's jail. When she turned to the orange deathscythes, they all got on their knees and begged.

"Please don't jail us! We had no choice but to commit those crimes!" They begged.

"What were you forced to do?" Dark asked, calming down enough to not want to rip something's head off. Their answers varied, but it was mostly petty crimes or capturing other players when their lives were threatened by the red players.

"From now on, you are the Guild Leader. Absolve the atrocities Koibito created with the deathscythes or disband it, your choice." Dark said to the deathscythe that had answered her question earlier.

"Of course..." He said thankfully. Dark turned towards where Kira had given the children to someone in the crowd. They had recovered a bit and were giving her fearful looks. All but one, the girl of the group was giving her a curious look.

"It's alright, they won't hurt you anymore. Where did they take you from?" Dark asked.

"They took us from the town of beginnings, they said something about younger members, but I didn't hear much." The girl answered when the others wouldn't.

"The town of beginnings?" Dark said.

"There's a player-run orphanage there for the children." Someone in the crowd said.

"Do you four know each other? Or did they just take you at random?" Kira asked.

"Us and a few others are from the same orphanage, but the others were killed by that fake woman. I knew she wasn't the real Dragon Reaper, even though she said she was." The girl answered.

"Come on then, we'll take you back there. We can talk more on the way." Dark said, picking up one of the boys and the girl. Kira picked up the other two. They used teleport crystals to teleport back to the town of beginnings.

-Floor 1, Town of beginnings-  
"So, where is this orphanage?" Dark asked as they set the children down, though the girl Clung to Dark. She giggled a bit at that and returned the girl to her shoulder while she offered her hand to the boy she was carrying, who cautiously accepted it.

"It's at the church. What's wrong guys? These ladies are nice!" The girl exclaimed.

"But Kuro, didn't you see how scary she was?" One of the boys answered.

"She's only scary to those who deserve it, don't worry." Kira said.

"Hey! What are you doing with those kids?!" Someone yelled. They turned to see a man in a Liberation Army uniform. He had his sword drawn and had three identical men behind him.

"Bringing them back to the orphanage." Dark answered.

"You look just like the bastards that took them... You're even red." The man said.

"I'm red because I took care of them. There's two dead and 12 in jail." Dark answered.

"How do we know you're not lying? You look just like those Deathscythes." The man argued.

"Can you not tell the difference between guild emblems, sir? Look, they're got dragons and skulls. Those Deathscythes had scythes and skulls." One of the other men said.

"Huh? Oh... sorry... We'll escort you then, I still don't think I can trust you." He said.

"Oh please, I don't need the escort and I've fought alongside your leader more than once." Dark said and continued walking. The man just growled and followed them.

"The Children! Oh thank goodness you found them! Thank you so much!" The woman in charge of the orphanage exclaimed when she answered the door to them.

"Of course. I have a few questions to ask you, though. May we come in?" Dark asked.

"Of course. Wait, there were six..." The woman answered.

"I'm sorry, when we got there these four were in the red and that's all. The players who did it have been taken care of." Dark said.

"Oh... I see... Come in, come in." The woman said sadly. She brought them to a small table while the children ran to join the others at the massive table to eat and tell the story of what happened.

"So, what did you want to ask?" The woman asked.

"That girl, Kuro, told us that she was part of an orphanage with the others. How did they get their hands on SAO and nerve gear if they were orphans?" Dark asked.

"It's simple, really. We should have known something would happen, but the children were all so happy we couldn't say no. One day, a rich man donated seven copies of SAO and seven nerve gear sets to our orphanage. Ours wasn't the only one, I think there were a total of five or six. I don't know why people would want children in a game like this, but there had to have been a reason." The woman explained.

"I see. I have another question, actually. Would it be alright if I take Kuro with us?" Dark asked.

"Why would you do a thing like that? I know who you are, and how dangerously you play. She is only 12 years old." The woman replied.

"Because she is strong. She was the only one that wasn't cowering in fear. I imagine if she had real gear, she would have fought back. She's underleveled, but I can fix that. I can tell she wants more out of this place than survival, but I would sooner die than let her be slain." Dark answered.

"That'd be nice, having someone else with us, We'd be a trio group too. Nice to shake things up a bit." Kira said with a giggle.

"Well... I guess there's nothing I can do to stop you, but promise me you won't take her into boss rooms or high level floors until she can handle it." The woman said after a few minutes of thinking.

"Miss helper, can I go outside and play?" Kuro asked the woman, tugging on her skirt, appearing out of nowhere. The woman, now named Helper, smiled at the girl.

"Sure thing, you can go with these nice people. They'll help you get strong like you always want." Helper said.

"Really? I always want to get strong and help the grown-ups fight! I also want a pet, too... Can I have a pet?" Kuro asked hopefully.

"So you want to become a beast tamer?" Dark asked, crouching down to the girl's level. She nodded happily and put her arms up. Dark smiled and put the girl on her shoulder. "I'll take good care of her. Please, take this. You're doing a very good thing here." Dark said, standing up and opening a trade with the girl. Dark gave her 20k Cil and completed the trade.

"Your donation is most appreciated. There is one thing you have to promise me, though, before I let you leave." Helper said.

"What's that?" Kira asked.

"If you survive this death game, come and adopt Kuro in reality." Helper said.

"I was planning to." Dark said with a smile and left.

-Floor 5, Drakeling pit-  
"Here we are." Dark said, setting Kuro down.

"What are those?" Kuro asked, pointing to the drakelings.

"Those are Drakelings, baby dragons. A Beast Tamer can tame any monster half of their level or lower, at least at low skill levels, and these things are level 10. You're level 21, so you should be able to do it. Let me give you everything you'll need." Dark explained as she opened up a trade menu with the girl.

"Press the blue circle." Kira said when the girl didn't know what to do. She nodded and did so. Dark placed a large amount of gear into her inventory and closed it. Then she helped her equip everything. The final result was cute and intimidating at the same time.

Kuro now sported light dragon-scale plate armor that left her belly, thighs and forearms exposed. Underneath that was a reinforced outfit consisting of a tank top and heavy pants. Her black hair was short and hung wildly around her head. The armor had a very dark blue coloration and she had a long glaive in her hand. Dark had given her a few skill potions to imitate starting out as a beast tamer.

"Do you know how to use that?" Kira asked the girl. She looked up at the weapon in her hand and back at Kira.

"Someone gave me one of these when i first started, but those fake reapers took it. I think I know how to use these skills, too. Will you help me if I can't figure it out?" She asked.

"Of course." Dark answered with a smile.

"'Calm beast'... Ok, let's try this one." Kuro said as she walked up to a Drakeling that was preparing to lunge at her. They were small and colors varied. If she were to tame it, it would probably be able to wrap around her shoulder like a scarf. This one was a dark midnight blue.

Kuro used the skill, and the creature seemed to lose some of it's aggression. In order to tame a beast, you couldn't hurt it. You had to calm it, if it was aggressive, and then use monster treats to make it like you. Then you'd use a skill and, if it likes you enough, it becomes your friend and pet.

"I have something for you." Kuro said happily, crouching down and holding out what looked like raw meat. That's exactly what it was, all dragons prefered meat. The drakeling looked at her, and then at the meat. Its reptilian tongue tasted the air and her scent and cautiously moved forward. It took the meat and started eating it as Kuro took another piece out. It was more eager to partake in the gift, this time, but flinched when she touched it's head.

"It's alright." She said in a calming voice. She put her hand out and held the meat out at the same time. Cautiously, the drakeling took the meat and allowed her to touch it. She giggled as it started leaning into her touch as she found a spot behind it's frill that it obviously liked being scratched.

"You can try taming it now." Dark said happily. Kuro nodded and opened her skill menu. She was surprised when the thing climbed onto her lap when she sat down. She smiled and selected the tame ability.

"Do you want to be my friend?" She asked. The drakeling looked up as her hand glowed green. It nuzzled her hand and a congratulations message appeared. "I did it!" She exclaimed happily.

"What will you name her?" Kira asked.

"I don't know... All of our names are nice and short so I don't want it to be long, maybe Onyx?" Kuro said.

"That works nicely, it's up to you. Let's see what kind of abilities it has now that you've tamed it." Dark said, crouching down and helping her open the pet menu.

"It has high attack and defense and speed, you got yourself a prime here. It learns abilities as it levels up, and if it catches up to your level then it evolves and grows and gains even more abilities. There are some abilities it can learn from events and NPC pet vendors, but for now what do you want to do?" Dark asked.

"I wanna join your party and your guild!" Kuro exclaimed. Dark would have facepalmed. Kira did facepalm.

"I can't believe we forgot about that." Dark sighed, inviting her to both.

"Huh? you have the red bar too?" She asked when she accepted the invites. Dark looked and saw that under Kuro's bar, there was an empty red bar and Onyx's life bar.

"You're a Vampire? How? Did somebody bite you?" Dark asked, gently grabbing the girl's shoulders.

"That fake reaper lady did... She bit the others, too, but only I got the red bar. I haven't felt so good since, but I'm used to it now!" Kuro said happily. Dark smiled at her and pulled one of her gauntlets off to reveal her forearm.

"Come on then, bite and feed. We have to have you at full power if you wanna do your best with your mothers." Dark said, holding her exposed arm out to the girl.

"Mothers? I like that." Kira giggled.

"Bite you? But that hurts you! It hurt me..." Kuro said, rubbing a spot on her neck.

"Don't worry, you only need a little bit and I can just heal it all right back up." Dark said happily. "If you don't then I can't take you with us when we go out. You'll have to stay at an inn, and I don't think you want that." She continued.

"No... Fine, but if it hurts too much then tell me and I'll stop!" She exclaimed and bit Dark's arm quickly. She opened her eyes and carefully watched Dark's HP bar and was surprised to see her red bar quickly fill up while Dark's life bar barely even moved.

"How did that not hurt at all? When that fake reaper lady did it our HP went down so fast..." Kuro asked when she was done.

"I'm level 55, love. I'm at full power, too. You are too now and I think you've read the abilities, right?" Dark replied.

"Mhm, though I didn't know what it meant until now... So, I'm a vampire?" Kuro answered.

"You are, and so am I. Kira isn't, though." Dark answered. She never thought she'd think it, but the girl actually looked cuter when she had the feral look of a full power vampire. Onyx yawned from her place on Kuro's lap and they looked to see the sun falling.

"Well, I guess this was a very fruitful day. You've gained a few levels and you have your own pet dragon. Kira, love, would you take her to an inn and stay with her for the night? I'm going to go farm materials so you can make EXP potions on floor 8. Here's something for you guys to eat." Dark said, trading a few meals to Kira.

"Thanks." Kira said in acknowledgement.

"I thought that moms shared inventory." Kuro said suddenly.

"Huh?" They asked.

"Miss Helper said that if someone was a mom or a dad, they shared inventory. You said that you are my mothers, so why don't you share inventory?" Kuro replied.

"That's marriage, love. I don't think we're quite ready for that." Kira said with a chuckle.

"Actually, why not? I've always wanted a little daughter, and we've been sharing a bed for over a have more than enough Cil to pay for it, and a Family is much closer than a party." Dark suggested.

"Well, not right now. I think whatever is running the marriage thing would be heading to sleep or be freaked out by a vampire. I like the idea, though. I'll think hard about it tonight." Kira said.

"Why do you have to think about it?" Kuro asked.

"I understand. Kuro, Marriage is a big thing. Some people in this day and age may not think of it as much, or have completely obliterated what it should be, but we keep it what it is. A sacred bond between two people in love, surrendering your everything to the other. In the terms of this game, it's also slightly dangerous." Dark explained.

"Dangerous?" Kuro asked.

"It's like a permanent friend request of sorts. We share all inventory and Cil, nothing can be hidden from your significant other. This makes betrayal much easier, but I highly doubt either of us would take advantage of that part." Dark answered.

"I have my reasons for wanting to think more on it. What would this mean for us as people, instead of just our avatars?" Kira asked.

"Well, take all the time you need. I can't tell the future nor will I pretend to, but as of right now I'd count it as engagement if we beat this damn thing. Then once we're ready in the real world, we get married for real." Dark replied.

"And we can be a family in real life too!" Kuro exclaimed.

"That does sound nice." Kira agreed.

"It does. You two go and eat and get some sleep. I'll be back later tonight, if not then by the time you wake up in the morning. Dark said, taking out a teleport crystal.

"Where are you farming, exactly?" Kira asked.

"Right before the frontlines, I'll help out players I see if I can. Don't worry, though, I'll make sure we don't take on the boss until we have us both there." Dark said.

"Floor 30, eh? Be careful." Kira said.

"Of course." Dark said. With a slight pause, she quickly planted a kiss on Kira's lips and teleported.

"Aw that's not fair!" Kira grunted. That earned a bout of laughter from Kuro. "Come on, let's go get somewhere to stay." She continued.

"So, mother, why don't you wanna marry mommy?" Kuro asked. It seemed, through an unknown means, Kira was dubbed 'Mother' and Dark 'Mommy'.

"I want to, more than I want to get out of this game. It's just, if we do get out of this game... I was orphaned, like you, not long after I was born and my step-father's family took me in. They hate my guts, though, and are some of the most traditionalist bigots I've ever known. I'm used to what they throw out, but if Dark had to deal with all of that?" Kira explained.

"Mommy is strong! She would beat up the mean people. And if you get married, won't you move in together and live on your own away from them?" Kuro exclaimed.

"I... Guess. I don't have nearly enough money in real life to even think about buying a house or even renting an apartment. I'll have to talk to Dark about it more." Kira answered as they started walking.

"Hey! Can we stop by the pet person in the village before we go back?" Kuro asked.

"If there is one, sure. I'll bet Onyx would like to learn something new." Kira said, giggling as the dragon draped itself around Kuro's shoulders like a scarf.

"Can pets talk?" Kuro asked.

"I don't know for sure, but I was partied with a beast tamer before and she told me a bunch. She said that as far as she knew, a pet can't speak, but her pet understood what she said and she somehow knew what her pet was trying to say." Kira answered.

"Oh, ok." Kuro said.

"Why do you ask?" Kira asked.

"Well... I thought I heard someone talking to me, but it was just us two... It didn't sound like mother." Kuro answered.

"What'd the voice say?" Kira asked.

"It said, thank you. If it was Onyx, then maybe it was for being nice instead of just attacking?" Kuro replied.

"I imagine it would be hard for these monsters, though they're AI, to constantly go through being killed and respawned. This game gives them sentience beyond what they're programmed to do, though, so It's not out the the question that it was Onyx. I'd say ask her now, but I don't think she'd be able to answer." Kira said, ending with a small giggle, as she noticed the drakeling asleep on Kuro's shoulders.


	4. Chapter 4

-Floor 58, dungeon, 1.5 months later.-  
"Kirito?" Dark said, noticing the boy sitting on a wall.

"Oh, hey there, Dark." Kirito said, raising a hand in acknowledgement.

"What are you doing? I had thought you'd be in the dungeon." Dark asked.

"Well, Today is the nicest day of the year in Aincrad and I took a nap. Miss 'vice commander' over here joined me and isn't up yet." Kirito explained, pointing a thumb to the sleeping girl.

"That's pretty nice of you to watch over her. If I remember correctly, you two finished the first boss together. Right?" Dark asked.

"Yeah. She's gotten really irritable, though. Although, she could probably kick my ass if she really wanted to." Kirito replied.

"You two would make a good pair, couple, however you want to say it." Dark said with a smile, pulling her helmet off and sitting next to the boy.

"Huh? We're both lead players, friends, that's it." Kirito retorted.

"You're quite compatible with each other now that I think about it. The reason you don't get along too well is because you're ignoring that fact." Dark explained.

"...Tch... What would you know?" Kirito huffed. Dark smiled and pulled her right gauntlet off and showed her hand. A crystalline ring inscribed with her guild insignia was on her finger.

"A guild ring?" Kirito asked.

"No, stupid. Wedding ring. It's just Kira, Kuro and I in the guild so we thought the emblem appropriate." Dark chuckled.

"Wait, if it's just you three then..." Kirito started. Dark gave him a look. "Oh, right, you swing that way." He continued.

"That makes it sound like a bad thing." Dark said jokingly, though with a serious tone.

"Not really. It's strange, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Congratulations, when?" Kirito asked.

"Half a month ago. We finally convinced the player handling weddings to marry us. Pain in the ass, if you ask me. My advice to you? Elope. That's what we're going to do when we beat this damn game." Dark replied.

"What do you mean...- Wait! Why do you keep doing that? We're just friends and occasionally partners." Kirito huffed.

"Because it's fun to mess with you like that. You're a good guy, Kirito. Both you and Asuna know that. I can't imagine anyone better for either of you than each other. Think about it, at least. Everyone needs someone they can always rely on, no matter what, and a lover can be the best." Dark said, getting a bit serious towards the end.

"...Right... Thanks. Anyways, how is Kuro and Kira? I haven't seen any of you for a while." Kirito asked.

"We've been spending a lot of time away from the front lines for the marriage, and to get Kuro leveled up." Dark answered.

"You're all on my friends list, I haven't noticed much leveling going on. You're almost my level, with kira not far behind, but Kuro is only about half that." Kirito said, opening his friends list to prove the point.

"We've been focusing on her skills and her pet, but if you pay attention tonight she'll jump quite a few. I was actually just about to go back to floor 50 to buy the rest of the yellow herbs I need from Egil" Dark explained.

"Yellow herbs? You're spamming EXP boosts?" Kirito put together.

"Yes, but that's not all of it. As you probably know, you can bottle XP if you have a high level alchemist with empty flasks. We give most of them away, at least the ones we don't use, but we've been saving them up. An EXP boost comes in two forms. Time based, and single uses. Time based boosts give less of a boost, but last more than one boost. Single uses give higher boosts, but only modify the next group of EXP you get. We've been keeping the single uses." Dark explained.

"So you're going to bloat her with boosts and feed her bottled EXP, single uses to maximize the boosts?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah. I have a feeling Heathcliff and Thinker are going to have a fit if they find out, but Kuro really hates not being able to come with me when I go on the front lines and Kira is starting to get a bit underleveled keeping an eye on her." Dark said with a sigh.

"I see. Where are they now?" Kirito asked. Dark answered by pointing towards the dungeon entrance. There was a massive crystal blue dragon flying towards them.

"They were on the front lines farming respawns to make sure Onyx would match Kuro's level once she drinks the potions. Nice talking to you again, see you at the boss fight in three days." Dark explained, standing up and replacing her armor.

"Uh, yeah." Kirito said. For a moment, Dark's outline went red and the eyes behind the helmet glowed red as she jumped straight up into the air with enough force to leave a crack in the ground. Once she reached the peak of her leap, the Dragon zoomed past and caught her.

'Damn, Vampirism is a scary thing. I may have more levels and overall power on her, but at night she would destroy me.' Kirito thought. He heard a small sneeze coming from the general direction of behind him and turned to see Asuna stirring. 'Better not tell her about that' He thought, remembering what Dark said.

-Floor 50, later that day, Egil's shop.-  
"You're stacking pretty high on EXP ingredients." Egil commented when she bought lots of them.

"Kuro needs to be on par with us so she can be with us wherever we go." Dark said, handing the ingredients to Kira. She proceeded to spawn in a mobile alchemy set and sat down cross legged, brewing the potions, as Kuro watched with interest.

"Oh I see, I've never actually seen anyone powerlevel like this, but Kirito once told me about it." Egil said.

"Well the last potion is done, this should be enough to bring her up to our level." Kira said, standing up and spawning in a large goblet.

"What are your levels, exactly?" Egil asked.

"Kuro is level 37, I'm level 81 and Kira is level 76." Dark answered.

"Damn, I upkeep my level so that I can fight on the front lines if needed and I'm only 70." Egil said.

"Well then watch, this is the fastest way to level. It's not very practical, you don't get the physical experience and you don't learn much from it, but we've been teaching Kuro everything we know and she's the equivalent of a front-lines beast tamer in terms of that skill tree." Kira explained as she put a bunch of potions into the goblet and crushed them, leaving nothing but the liquid.

"It might taste weird, but you have to drink this." Kira said with a smile. Kuro nodded and quickly downed the goblet, grimacing slightly at the bitter taste.

"If we didn't give her the boots, we'd only have enough EXP bottled for about 2 levels at the most. With this, it should put her into the seventies." Kira said, taking out a large flask as an icon appeared under Kuro's power bar.

"4,298%?!" Egil exclaimed.

"It's single use." Kira said. "Crush this flask in your hands, don't worry it won't hurt you." She continued to Kuro, handing the large flask to her. Kuro shook herself, nodded and did as she was told. A large amount of glowing, multi colored orbs shot out of the flask and floated around her. Slowly, the orbs started floating into Kuro. a level up screen popped up as more were absorbed. The pace quickened and they lost track of how many times the girl leveled up.

When the gale of experience was finally finished, Kuro was down on one knee with a screen saying 'level 7980' was in front of her.

"Looks like that did the trick." Dark said with a smile, crouching down next to the girl.

"Mommy, I don't feel right. It's like, I suddenly got really old." Kuro said softly.

"You don't look any different, though it appears your mind has matured a bit. It doesn't matter, you're still our little Kuro." Dark said, helping the girl to her feet.

"Man that was tense." Egil said, rubbing the back of his head.

"We've got a lot of skills we need to get on par as well, but that won't take so much time. We've been so focused on your training with Onyx." Kira said.

"Hey Egil, got any good and rare gear on sale? I've got some stuff I'll trade in for." Dark asked.

"I do, guessing she needs a gear upgrade now?" Egil guessed. Dark nodded and they traded for a little while. When they finished, Dark gave it all to Kuro.

"Um... Is it alright if I wait to put all of this on? It feel wrong just getting it for free without earning it..." Kuro asked.

"Up to you, it's your gear now. Now that you have a high enough level I feel better about taking you into a boss fight. I hear that floor 58 is giving everyone trouble, wanna see if we can help? If you can kill the boss then you've earned everything." Dark suggested.

"Are you sure, love? That's the very front lines and the guilds are taking a break from trying to beat it today." Kira said.

"I got into contact with Fenrikkuzen, Klein's guild, and they said they figured out how to beat it but they need some strong players. I'd say Draconis Eluvium is good enough, eh?" Dark said.

"What about Kirito and Asuna?" Kira asked.

"I can answer that one. They're trying to solve a series of strange murders. They came by earlier to appraise a weapon for leads." Egil said.

"I see. We can handle it. See you later, Egil." Dark said as they left to make their way towards the teleport gate.

-Floor 58, Boss room-  
"Huh?" Dark said as they found the boss room door. Klein and his guild were standing there, but so was Heathcliff and a few KoBs.

"Hello, Draconis Eluvium. I heard you were going to take on this boss today and was interested to see if you could really do it." Heathcliff said.

"You know we can do it, why are you really here?" Dark asked.

"Hm... Our guilds are allied, therefore I can see your members' names and levels. Kuro recently went from high thirties to 80 in a matter of seconds. I am aware that you were in the beta, and I haven't held that against you, until now. You're not telling us something that could be invaluable to getting lots of high level players on the front lines." Heathcliff explained, a serious look on his face.

"You're not only wrong, but completely off. It's not invaluable to getting strong players and I've not only spread the method but helped in doing it with others some. It's simple, you spam single EXP boosts and have an alchemist bottle a bunch of EXP. It's not invaluable, because all it does is give you levels and upgrade your base stats. Your skills don't level with you and you'd go from farming respawns on floor 20 to the front lines here, and you'd be useless." Dark explained.

"That's what you did? If it only gets you killed on the front lines then why are you taking her to the boss fight?" Heathcliff retorted.

"Because the reason her level was so low is because we've been focusing on her class skills and her other skills. She has the experience and strength to be this high of a level, she just didn't have the actual levels. She wants to earn her high level gear, though, so if she can land the final blow she earns it all." Kira replied.

"Um... Can we stop arguing and clear the boss?" Klein asked.

"Right..." Everyone said after a moment.

"Alright! Now, in our last skirmish against this boss, we found that it's weak to attacks from the air. Its not used to fighting things as high as he is." Klein said.

"Wait, what kind of monster is he?" Kuro asked.

"He's a mature Dragon, the only dragon bigger and more powerful is an Elder and those are only on the last 20 floors, if Algorithms hold true." Heathcliff said.

"Well then that works perfectly. We'll all distract the boss and Kuro will try and land a critical weakness attack. Does it have much HP?" Dark asked Klein.

"No, it only has one bar, but from below it takes 99% reduced damage and it flies up when you try to jump. There's a ceiling, so you can just use a dash skill to go super high." Klein explained.

"Kuro, equip that weapon I gave you. If you don't then you might not be able to beat it." Dark said to the girl. She nodded and opened her inventory. In a few seconds, the girl's uncommon glaive was replaced with a rare one. It looked as if the stave part was made from the spine of some beast, the blades the serrated teeth.

"Why do all of your armor and weapon revolve around dragons..." Klein deadpanned.

"Draconic gear is one of the best types in the game, only overshadowed by Crystallite and magic type." Heathcliff said.

"Plus it looks really cool." Kira said with a wink.

"Right. We'll distract it and use throwing weapons and lunging skills to keep it busy and force it into the ceiling. Once that happens it's up to you, Kuro. You know your skills and Onyx's better than I." Dark planned.

"Onyx?" Heathcliff asked. The Drakeling answered by lifting its head from where it was draped around Kuro's shoulders and letting out a small plume of smoke from its nostrils.

"I don't think she'll be much use against a mature dragon..." Heathcliff said.

"Trust me, She's not just a drakeling anymore." Kuro said with a smile.

"Alright. Let's do this. Good luck everyone." Dark said, beating a gauntlet on her chest plate in a sort of salute. Everyone repeated the action and they opened the door.

The dragon looked as if he was forged from metal, though they caught a glimpse of what appeared to be molten skin on its back before it launched into the air and rained molten metal upon them from his jaws.

All of the KoBs had shields, so they were the front line, while Fenrikkuzen had lots of high mobility attacks and were able to poke and harass the beast. Draconis Eluvium were able to do substantially more damage to the beast than Fenrikkuzen, but in the end only a tiny sliver of its health was gone. They did succeed in driving it upwards, though, and Kuro acted.

"Onyx! Beast tamer skill, Devastating Growth!" Kuro called as she leaped into the air above the flying Drakeling. With a roar mightier than the boss's, Onyx suddenly grew in a flash of blue light. The boss bellowed a yelp mixed with a roar and tried to fly further upwards, but the ceiling blocked it.

"Incapacitating bite!" Kuro yelled as she readied herself. With a yellow glow, Onyx shot forward and latched her jaws around the beast's neck. It suddenly found itself unable to move to counter attack, the bite had a paralysis effect, and Onyx let it fall from her grasp to the ground below. Before it landed, however, Kuro dropped from Onyx's back and plunged glaive-first towards the Boss.

She landed on its skull, which had more armor than the rest of its back, but it stopped struggling as its HP bar slowly dropped to red. She twisted the glaive once, then once more and ripped it out of the beast's head. It exploded into bits of data and the congratulations message appeared.

"Well, I guess you weren't lying about focusing on her class skills..." Heathcliff said.

"Was anyone hurt?" Kira asked.

"Eh, I went into red but we have plenty of potions." Klein waved off as his health bar went back into green.

"You know, both of your guilds are quite powerful. Fenrikkuzen isn't quite a major guild yet, but Draconis Eluvium is considered one. I can't ask you to disband your guilds to join the Knights of the Blood oath, but I will ask for you to possibly deepen our alliances and for you to become something along the lines of sub-branches." Heathcliff offered.

"We'd rather not, sorry." Klein said apologetically. "We're only on the frontlines when we have an advantage. We're not strong enough to fight with you all the time." He continued.

"While our main focus is to clear the game, we don't want to be on the frontlines the entire time either. Besides, we give out almost everything we get. That's not exactly your way." Dark said.

"How about a duel, then? If you win then you will earn one favor from us, no questions asked. If you lose, however, you will do as I have suggested." Heathcliff offered.

"Nah, I'd never even put a scratch in your armor. Not worth it." Klein said.

"You obviously wouldn't make that offer if you had any chance of losing. I don't need favors, anyways, they're just liabilities." Dark said. Heathcliff's normal happy and helping mood dropped to a more irritated one, but he didn't do anything about it.

"Very well, it is a shame. I don't hold grudges, though, so I look forward to our continued friendship and your continued assistance on the front lines. Kuro, you did finish the boss in one blow. It is your right to open the warp gate." Heathcliff said. Kuro nodded happily and rushed to open the door to the next floor.

"What'd you get for the final blow bonus, love?" Dark asked her.

"I got pet armor!" Kuro explained after she opened the door. She opened her pet menu and equipped the items. As Onyx shrunk back to her normal size she gained a molten-looking metal helmet, bracers, chest plate and wing protectors.

"Well, she looks like that boss now. I wonder what would have happened if you weren't a beast tamer." Klein said.

"It's happened before, based on your general 'class' a bonus drop adheres to that class. If you are a beast tamer, you're more likely to get gear for your pet. If you're a tank, you're more likely to get epic armor etcetera andante." Heathcliff explained.

"That's interesting." Dark said as she took out a teleport crystal.

"Where are you going?" Heathcliff asked.

"My daughter just slayed her first boss in a single blow, I think that means celebration. We'll be back on floor 22. We've got a house there and the food ingredients are perfect for a celebratory feast. You're all invited when it happens, of course, since you helped." Dark explained.

"I probably won't have the time, but we'll see." Heathcliff said with a smile.

"You bet your ass I'll be there, player cooked food is always the best!" Klein exclaimed.

"If you guys run into Kirito, Asuna or Egil tell them they should come too. Kirito and Asuna are top level players, like us, and Kuro just become of of them too." Kira said.

"Sure." Klein said.

"She's on leave for a little while, I'll let her know." Heathcliff said. They all nodded to each other and either walked to the next floor or teleported.

-Floor 22, the next night-  
"You know, I would have helped you cook all of this." Asuna said as she was the last one to get there.

"Well I like to cook too sometimes." Dark retorted, closing the door behind her. At the large table, most of their friends were there. Egil looked like he was about to eat the entire table, Kirito was looking out of the window, Kira , Kuro and Lisbeth were playing with Onyx and Klein was laughing at Egil.

"So you basically took that thing down on your own?" Kirito asked Kuro.

"Well, there were a bunch of people there to help me." Kuro replied.

"We only took it down to about 90% with all of it's damage reduction, She did a weakness critical from above and finished it with one blow." Dark explained.

"That's incredible, I guess you have really good teachers." Kirito said with a smile.

"Thanks. Well, I didn't spend all day cooking for nothing. Everyone sit down." Dark said. Within moments, everyone was seated around the large table.

"Alright, there's something I want to talk about now that we have pretty much everyone here. It's about what happens after we beat this game." She continued.

"Dark, Kuro and I are planning to all find each other and start living together. I know that you live alone, Klein, but aside from that I have no idea what we could possibly do for the rest of you." Kira explained.

"I live with my aunt and uncle and cousin, but finding all of you guys would be nice." Kirito said.

"I'm a bartender and I live alone, too, so I should be able to find out where everyone is. Bartenders hear a lot." Egil said.

"I used to live with my grandpa, but he was given a year tops to live. He has cancer, so if this lasts too long I won't have anywhere to go." Lisbeth said sadly.

"We can take you in as well." Dark said happily.

"What about you, Asuna?" Kirito asked.

"I have a family to go back to, but I'm sure as hell not forgetting about any of you. We'll all find each other, meet up and still be friends." Asuna answered.

"Perfect. Now, I had an idea earlier. Heathcliff gave it to me when he tried to make Draconis Eluvium and Fenrikkuzen sub-guilds to the KoB. Maybe we should form a general guild and each of our own guilds would be sub-branches of sorts. I know of a way to sort of exploit the guild system so that you can be part of two or more. In the beta, the GMs kind of cracked down on it, but there are none now so we could do it." Dark explained.

"How would we display it, then?" Kirito asked.

"I've made a bunch of rings. They're the key to the general guild, as long as you wear the ring it acts as if you're in a guild with that person and takes on it's own emblem. If you're in a party with that person and they're on the 'IRL' section of your friends list then it displays a guild icon, or second guild icon if you're already in one." Dark continued.

"So it's like an unofficial guild. I like it. There are a good amount of people who know each other in real life, so it won't be odd if we have people in that section." Kirito said.

"And you can keep up your image as a badass solo player." Kira said.

"This is all well and good, but that food is smelling REALLY good. Think we can talk about this more after we eat?" Egil asked.

"Sure. Dig in!" Dark exclaimed.

"So, what's your story?" Kirito asked Dark after the meal. They were sitting on the porch as everyone continued their meal and told stories inside.

"What do you mean?" Dark asked.

"I'm just some random kid lucky enough to get into the beta. There's nothing special about who I really am, what about you?" Kirito replied.

"I'm not too special either, though I do have a relative that works for the company that was Kayaba's competition. I don't know why, but I was sent an exclusive beta copy. Maybe they thought the niece of the enemy loving a game developed by them would somehow help them." Dark explained.

"What about you personally? My parents died when I was young and my aunt and uncle took me in." Kirito asked.

"I don't know what happened to my parents, all I know is that I've been living alone since I was 13 since my uncle was too rich for me to be in a foster home. He never did anything for me, though, except put a fortune in a savings account I can't get into until I'm 18. Maybe it was my parents' will or a wave of pity, I don't know." Dark answered.

"So you grew up on the streets. I guess that's why you don't hesitate too much when it comes to killing someone when you know they'll really die." Kirito said.

"Those deathscythes were the fist time I've killed someone... Ever. I've been in plenty of fistfights and knifefights, I've even been part of a firefight before, but I've never killed anyone. It's just... Sometimes, people deserve to die. I know you hesitate to actually kill someone in this game, don't. If you're going to kill them then they obviously deserve it. You're not like Laughing Coffin if you kill a monster." Dark explained.

"I know that some people can be monsters... I just don't know whether they really do deserve to die." Kirito said with a sigh as he looked at the sky.

"If you get used to doing something here, it'll carry over to your life when we beat the game. If you get used to killing people, or cutting them up and watching them be fine after a potion, you'll keep doing it when you're out." Dark said.

"You've got a point." Kirito said.

"Mommy! Come on back inside, we're all trying to come up with names for our unofficial guild." Kuro said, sticking her head out of the door.

"Oh? What have you got so far?" Dark asked, standing up.

"Not much, but we think it has to have something like alliance in it's name and isgnify everyone in a few words." Kuro answered.

Back inside, everyone thought hard on the name.

"I like the alliance idea, but if it was just 'alliance' then it'd be so unoriginal." Lisbeth mumbled.

"Well, what brings all of us together?" Asuna asked.

"We could use something like 'Sword Art Alliance', but we would want this to outlast the game, right?" Egil said.

"Of course." Everyone agreed.

"We're all different, but we're all working together. how about 'Draconian Alliance'?" Kuro suggested.

"Hm... Your group's love of Dragons aside, that just may work. This was, after all, your idea and the dictionary definition of Draconian is something along the lines of would the emblem be?" Kirito asked.

"I dunno about you guys, but I want that emblem to have something that represents all of us, just like the name." Egil said.

"I've got it." Dark said. She spawned in a small pouch and upturned it onto the table. A series of black-metal rings with empty emblem palettes on them rumbled out of the bag. She put her hand over the pile and concentrated. Slowly, something was etched into the emblem palettes. The finished emblem consisted of eight blades. They overlapped each other to form a shoddy circle, which surrounded a large 'DA'. The letters were in a font that could be considered gothic.

"Now that looks badass." Klein said with a grin. With a nod from Dark, they all picked up one of the rings and put them on their right hand. Dark and Kira had to move their wedding rings to the left hand first, but they did so as well.

"Hey, I never noticed before, but why did you have those on the right hand when the left is proper?" Kirito asked.

"We thought of it as the rings going on the right hand to signify engagement, we'd move it to the left once we married in real life. I guess that this guarantees that now, though." Dark answered.

"To the Draconian Alliance!" Asuna said happily, putting her Rapier into the air.

"To the Draconian Alliance!" Everyone repeated as they put their own weapons forward. The resulting point was misshapen due to the axe-katana-rapier-longsword-scythe-glaive-mace combination.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5, 2 years in.

-Floor 22-  
"Hey." Dark said. They were walking towards the lake, where apparently someone had caught a massive fish, and found Kirito and Asuna walking back.

"Oh, hello you guys. We haven't seen each other in a long time." Kirito said.

"Looks like you finally took my advice." Dark said with a grin.

"What?" The two asked.

"Dark here has been putting the idea of marriage in that oaf's head since we got married. I guess there's been a huge gap since we last met, how long?" Kira asked.

"Uh... I had completely forgotten about that... Um, about a week now." Kirito said, rubbing his head.

"Hey, where's Kuro?" Asuna asked.

"She's at home playing with Onyx. You can probably see them now, actually." Dark answered, turning back to where they came and looked up. She pointed at the dark blue spec swirling through the air above the residential area.

"Speaking of kids, didn't you guys have one for a little while?" Kira asked. She regretted it when their faces fell and Asuna put a hand to her necklace.

"It's a long story... Anyways, where have you two been? We moved in practically right next door to you and we still haven't seen you in like a year." Kirito said.

"Well we've been spending a lot of time together here and helping out some of the others in the alliance instead of fighting on the front lines. We got tired of the constant fighting, I guess. We just helped clear a major part of floor 75 so the boss room should be open in a few days at the least. bad timing, I guess." Dark explained.

"I see. Until our more recent adventures, I've been doing a lot of solo work. Helping to clear floors and doing some events." Kirito said.

"I've been doing tons of work for the KoB, mostly the same." Asuna said.

"But now you're on vacation leave because you got married, nice isn't it?" Kira said.

"It is. We've kinda exhausted everything to do now, though." Kirito said with a smile.

"Have you been to the natural hot spring?" Kira asked.

"Natural... Hot spring?" The two said.

"Guess not. You can tell that long story while we soak." Dark suggested.

"I guess we can..." Asuna agreed.

"Sure." kirito agreed as well.

"Perfect. You go show them, I'll get Kuro." Kira said happily.

"Poor Yui... I would have done the same thing, but to be left as that little thing? I wouldn't be able to handle that." Kuro said sadly after the story was told.

"Don't worry, We'll help however we can when we beat that final boss. My uncle works for Kayaba's competitors, so he can probably get a nice AI going or something like that." Dark said.

"Well thanks for listening... We only had her for a day, but she felt so much like she was our child... I'd love to say how lucky you guys are to have Kuro, but that's incredibly selfish and I regret even thinking it." Asuna said.

"I had that same connection with Kuro, I know how you feel. A while ago, when we were fighting an event boss, She did pretty much the same thing. Though instead of pulling a GM account out of her ass, she took a hit that nearly brought her to 0 HP in order to finish it off." Dark said.

"Klein and some randoms were there with us, and they said they wanted to break out crying with how much we were." Kira said with a light smile.

"I can imagine. Klein thinks he's a badass, but he's got a soft heart. Good god, I can't keep talking about things so negative anymore, this water is just too amazing." Kirito said, stretching and putting an arm around Asuna.

"Well then we won't. Have you guys heard that there's a guild of vampire slayers?" Asuna asked.

"Oh, we ran into them a few times. The Deathscythes are pretty much all vampires now, so they tend to fight a lot. They don't do anything wrong with their vampirism, but people are stupid and blinded by moronic beliefs. I was just going to leave it alone until they attacked Kuro." Dark answered.

"Was she injured?" Kirito asked.

"I kicked their butts! They were pretty low leveled." Kuro said happily from her place perched atop the mound of crystallite flesh that was Onyx in her full growth form.

"I had to go and talk to them for three hours straight until the morons finally agreed that vampires aren't bad." Dark sighed.

"While there are a few of them that are murderers and criminals, they were like that before the vampirism." Kira said.

"Speaking of that, were you ever turned? I don't see any vampiric traits on you and I haven't been in a party with you." Kirito asked Kira.

"Well a 50% chance over the course of about 20 feedings? Of course. I guess my features only appear at night, maybe the effects get weaker the more you're fed from... or something like that." Kira answered.

"We all feed off of each other or someone kind enough to help a front-line player." Dark said.

"That seems... Interesting." Asuna said.

"You know, it's been two years. Our bodies have grown with that by now, though our Avatars don't show it. I imagine some of our physical changes will probably carry over. If your brain thinks you have pink hair, for example, for 2 years then don't you think it would affect your body?" Kirito said.

"Doesn't the nerve gear block all the brain activities?" Kuro asked.

"Only the ones related to movement and speech and stuff. If it blocked all brain activity, then all of your organs would stop working and you'd die." Kirito replied.

"Well, if we all wake up with red eyes and fangs I'd count that as a plus." Kira giggled.

"Would we wake up super strong like we are now?" Kuro asked, flexing her arms for a moment before giggling.

"I doubt it, inactivity for this long would most likely degrade muscle and fat. Oh man, I can only imagine how long my hair's gotten." kirito said, rubbing at his hair at the last part.

"I dunno, that'd look pretty good if you ask me." Asuna said.

"Hey, if the wife likes it then it's gotta happen, right?" Kira said.

"Oh love shouldn't be so controlling. This is why I love spending time with you two and everyone else in the alliance, we always talk about the strangest things and I love it." Dark said with a laugh.

"You've got a point there." Kirito said, earning a giggle from Asuna.

"We make everyone smile..." She said softly, only Kirito heard it. They looked at each other and held each other closer.

"What's wrong?" Kuro asked.

"Nothing, nothing. We just really miss Yui." Asuna said with a sigh.

"Well then lets have that much more fun here for her!" Kuro exclaimed, leaping off of Onyx's extended tail; which was a good twenty feet in the air now, and did a massive cannonball. That earned a round of laughter than everyone.

"We're getting close, aren't we?" Kirito suddenly said.

"Yeah." Dark answered.

They all let out a deep breath and just sat together in the hot spring. Relaxing, enjoying as much peace as they could.

"I've got this feeling that something is going to happen very soon. I don't know if it's bad, but I know it's big." Kuro said softly.

"THat's the story of this world, love." Kira said with a light chuckle.

"I guess." Kuro agreed.

"I know we already promised this, but we will find each other when we beat this." Kirito said.

"Damn right." Asuna agreed.

"People always used to say that video games make you an outcast with no friends. Outcast, yeah, but no friends? They obviously never had real friends." Dark said, completely changing the subject.

"What do you mean?" Kira asked.

"This Alliance, it's one great big friendship. In reality, you can make it look like a friendship when really it's nothing... But here? When you're fighting side by side with your 'friends' you know which ones are the real ones, Even in normal video games. I know each and every member of the alliance would fight and die for each other if they had to, though I hope that doesn't come to pass, and that alone proves we're that close of friends." Dark explained lightly.

"In video games, you get to see who people really are, as well." Kirito said.

"Yeah." They all agreed.

"Alright, who's hungry? I got some rare A class ingredients today and I plan on making something awesome." Dark said, getting up out of the water and stretching.

"Can I help?" Asuna asked, standing as well.

"Sure, your seasonings are amazing. We'll call you guys when the food is ready." Dark answered. Kirito and Kira nodded and they left.

"Yay I love mommy's cooking!" Kuro exclaimed, practically flinging herself onto the nearest piece of land. That happened to be Kirito.

"And with Asuna helping her, it'll be the best meal in the history of Aincrad." Kirito said with a laugh as the girl climbed up on his shoulders. "What are you doing?" He laughed.

"She's playing with Onyx, sorry but looks like you're the safe zone." Kira said, laughing her ass off.

"The evil sea dragon is a vicious creature that'll kill you in the most horrific ways possible if it catches you!" Kuro giggled darkly.

"Eh, wait... Is the safe zone himself safe?" Kirito asked, looking up.

"Nope! She took the sacrifice!" Kuro exclaimed, leaping off of Kirito's shoulders and over to where Kira was.

"Wha?!" Kirito yelled as a shadow ascended upon him from below. He froze for a second before going underwater in a flash. the spring was silent for a few moments.

"AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA HAHA" Kirito screamed at the top of his lungs as he flew out of the water laughing like a madman.

"Stealth tickle strike successful!" Kuro exclaimed.

"I swear... What is it with your family and messing with me?" Kirito said jokingly after he got over his laughing fit.

"Because it's too easy." Kira said with a smile.

"Geez just because I'm laid back doesn't mean people can just walk over me..." Kirito groaned, his sides ached from the tickling.

"Come on up Onyx, mommy and Asuna went to go cook food so it won't be long!" Kuro called. With a happy screech-like yelp, Onyx shot out of the water and into Kuro, knocking her off of Kira's shoulders. When she surfaced, the dragon was draped around her shoulders as usual and Kuro was laughing.

"You know, for such high power players you guys are just as laid back as me, huh?" Kirito asked.

"We like to enjoy what we can. THere's no use devoting your entire existence here to getting out... Might as well enjoy the game to its fullest. You never know if you'll even get back or not, you know?" Kira said.

"That's what I go by. I've had a sliver of HP left more times than I can count and I've seen friends die more than anyone should in five lifetimes... I guess you could say I'm living for them too, now." Kirito said with a small sigh as he reclined on the side of the spring again.

"I've seen people die, and even killed a few that needed it, but in a place like this I never really made friends. Those I did are strong enough to live through all of this, as you know. Not everyone can be as Idealistic as me, though, and what you're doing for them is the best you can." Kira said, putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling.

"I know how you feel, Kirito. You're doing the right thing for sure! If someone dies, you don't spend the rest of your life being sad about it. You live your life better than before, friends live on through each other. If a real friend died, then it's your job to make sure you're happy. Nobody ever wants a friend to suffer with them." Kuro said, hugging the boy.

"Those are some pretty wise words for someone so young." Kirito said after a moment, patting the girl's head.

"Mommy taught me that." Kuro said with a smile.

"She's a smart mommy, then." Kirito said.

"You seem to be rather fond of Kirito, Kuro." Kira said with a laugh.

"Well yeah, I've decided Kirito and Asuna are Uncle and Auntie!" Kuro announced. Kira broke out into laughter. Kirito looked at the girl and smiled.

"Then that means you're my niece, eh?" He said.

"Yep!" Kuro replied.

"Food's almost done!" Asuna's voice called from nearby.

"Wow that was quick." Kirito commented.

"Well this is our backyard." Kira said as she got up and stretched.

"... Really? How did you afford such a sweet place? It took all Asuna and I had just to get the next one over." Kirito asked.

"Dark is damn rich because of all the stuff she does. She never buys anything unless she needs to, when it comes to gear she forges and finds it all. She helps everyone out and gives away stuff she doesn't need, people are grateful sometimes and compensate her. She refuses to take it, but I accept it on her behalf." Kira explained.

"Why would you accept it if she doesn't want it?" Kirito asked as they started walking back.

"If someone walked up to you gave gave you a bunch of stuff that made you go from someone who couldn't even farm respawns to a front line player, would you just accept it and be on your merry way? There are people with hearts here, and they feel they need to at least give something back." Kira answered.

"Helps everyone and asks for nothing in return... No wonder I've been hearing her being called 'Guardian Angel'." Kirito said.

"I haven't heard that one before." Kira said.

"It's mostly around the lower level floors, but I heard it last time I was on the front lines. apparently she's made a name for herself there." Kirito said.

"When we were there yesterday, She used all of her HP items healing injured players that ran out of them. When she ran out of those, she let the few vampires in the group feed off of her. When she was in the reds with no healing items? She went out and farmed the uncommon HP item drops from the respawns on the floor dungeon to re-stock them. On our way back, she passed out from exhaustion and HP loss." Kira explained.

"Seriously? I'd give out HP items if I had a lot of them, but I'd never go that far..." Kirito said.

"She'd rather die helping people and live alone." Kira said.

"That's interesting... I live by something kind of like that. I'd rather die with someone then let them die alone." Kirito said.

"You two sound like you could be siblings or something." Kira giggled.

"That's why Kirito is Uncle!" Kuro exclaimed from where she was behind them, riding on a horse-sized Onyx's back.


End file.
